Fading Color & Orange Tint

Older woman with long brown hair
Photo: Chris Bourloton/Shutterstock
Q: I have naturally medium brown hair. My hairdresser colors it my natural color to hide the gray. The color looks great for 6-8 weeks. Then for some reason my hair color becomes light brown with almost an orange tint to it while the roots stay a medium brown.
 
I would expect that when the color fades that I would still have my medium brown hair with gray in it. Why does it turn this other color? Thank you for your help.
 
A: It sounds like the color your hairdresser uses is formulated with a developer that actually lightens the natural color then the formula re-colors it to the same shade as before. This may be because your hair is resistant and needs the extra strength developer to allow the color to penetrate and cover the gray.
 
The end result, obviously, is that as the color fades, it fades to a lighter shade. The color you see with the fading is a result of the lightening, often tinged by the base color of the hair color formula used. The roots (or new growth) remain a medium brown because that is the actual color of your hair.
 
If this is presenting you with a more significant problem than you can cope with, you should talk to your hairdresser about making sure that the hair color formulation he/she uses is deposit-only.
 
It will obviously take time, but you will eventually find that the hair will stop looking so orange as the color fades once the portions of the hair that have previously been lightened are grown out.
 
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See also:
 
Hair coloring
 
Questions about gray hair
 
Hair color problems in a salon
 
How to make hair color last longer